The active tourist season in Bulgaria saw 83 beaches unguarded. The big promises of the Minister of Regional Development Desislava Terzieva to put order in the concessionaire contracts and to ensure that the safety of beaches along the Black Sea coast suffered a complete failure. Beaches that remain without a concessionaire are those around Shabla and Kavarna, six others in Avren, Byala, Nessebar and Sozopol, 11 in Varna and Burgas, eight in Pomorie, three in Balchik and Dolni Chiflik and about 16 in Tsarevo municipality.
Now Mrs. Terzieva transfers the responsibility for the safety of holidaymakers to the governors of Dobrich, Varna and Burgas. The Minister asked them to say for which of these beaches they themselves will be able to provide guards and bound them install one or two guarding posts, but only in July and August. Local mayors will have other things to do, too. They have to identify the places visited by people, set up a scheme and send it to the ministry.
After the European Parliament elections Mrs. Terzieva continued to mislead that there is a chance she would remain Minister until the autumn. On May 30, she announced that in October and November she will launch the procedures for the concession of those beaches, whose concession contracts expire or are rented for now and just for this summer, as well as for those not currently concessioned.
During the period she ran the concession processes she (with the support of the ruling coalition in the National Assembly), however, managed to get through the „necessary“ changes in the Black Sea Coast Act, through which the government reintroduced „strange“ practices that actually are favourable to concessionaires of the largest and most attractive beaches. In fact, it should be noted that concessionaires acquired lengthy periods of concession thanks to Terzieva predecessor in the previous tripartite coalition Gagauzov. Literally in his last days as Minister (late May 2009) he managed to sign dozens of concession agreements with twenty years of validity.
Changes in the regulatory norms (made in late April) untied the hands of the big players so that they can extend their rights on the coast, placing paid umbrellas and long chairs not on 50% of the active beach area (these were the previous rules) but of the total one. They no longer have to place their long chairs and umbrellas in an area equivalent as position with the one that remains unoccupied. Places with open access can now be „stuck“ in the rocks, in holes or in the water. Reintroduced was the old rule saying that movable objects can be located on significantly larger spaces, since in practice the total area includes forests, cliffs and dunes. On top of that, they were given opportunity to use another 2% of this area to „expansion.“ In other words, actually 4% of the total area is now open to be occupied with these facilities. While the active area – with free sun bathing opportunity may be further narrowed from 50 percent to 30 percent, in practice.
All these „extras“ were allegedly made to provoke greater interest of investors to concession less attractive beaches. But smaller beaches were never concessioned (or bargaining for them could not be completed in time …).
Existing concession contracts are now 58 and the contracts for rental come to 39. Revenue for 2013, according to official information of the regional ministry amounted to nearly 14 million levs. With fervor and optimism Minister Terzieva recently announced that her forecasts for this year are for a revenue of 16 million levs. The increase would come from the newly concluded contracts for rental of beaches that last season (2013) remained unguarded.
Only that it did not happen, at least not in the volume in which the minister promised. It not only failed to organize a competition for the concession of the unguarded beaches, but failed in its partial fulfillment, which was to just rent them.
The Ministry did not fail only in the „selection“ of tenants for the most attractive beaches.
